This is the blog of Susan Lazear, Professor of Fashion at Mesa College in San Diego, California, and owner of Cochenille Design Studio, a company that produces software for the textile arts.

Monday, November 24, 2008

Two UFOs Complete

A few entries back, I mentioned that I am working on completing some of the unfinished objects in my life. Not all of these are fiber projects.

I am pleased to say, that I managed to complete two major projects, and both on the same day, believe it or not.

Photoshop for Fashion DesignThe first of these is a project that has been in the work for several years. This is a book on Photoshop for Fashion Design. I have been writing exercises for my students at Mesa College for years, and at one point decided to officially write a book on the topic. Of course, the project grew in scope, and the original 150 pages I thought I would write expanded to nearly 500 pages. Although the writing has been complete since Jun, a rigorous editing process followed. On Thursday of last week, I managed to finally be done with all parts of the final edits on the book.

The book contains step-by-step instructions on how to use Photoshop to create fashion composites (collage), how to draw fashion illustrations and flats, build textile prints and colorways and various presentation techniques. It is similar in approach to the Illustrator book I have written (released January 2008).

So, now, it is up to the publisher, Pearson, Prentice-Hall to do the final steps. The book is expected to ship in January.

Yard MosaicThe second long-term project has been a mosaic in my back yard. This was started over 2-1/2 years ago, and on Thursday, I laid the last stone. Grouting still needs to happen, but by comparison, that is a small task.

I’ve had a lot of help along the way… starting with sister Chris, from the Yukon. Chris is a mosaic artist, and she has made two trips down to San Diego, to move the progress along. You can see our creative efforts in setting up the initial layer of cement,. We had to add to add height to what the yard contractor had poured, so that it would save time later in laying the stones. As you can see kitchen tools, etc., became part of the creative process.

I had decided to use pre-meshed stones this time (as this is the second yard I have done mosaic in). Yet, I still had to have some creative process to the overall. Thus, I decided to lift some of the standard stones out and replace them with more interesting stones. Chris designed and glazed some special tiles for me, as you can see.

In the image below, you can see my friend Jerry, who helped me out at the end. Jerry teaches jewelry making at GIA so he has a knack for detail work.

At last.. laying the last stone in place….. and another Susan Shadow Shot..

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About Me

There is not a dull moment in my life. I am involved in all things creative, and enjoy the world around me.
As a Professor of Fashion at San Diego Mesa College, I enjoy teaching various courses such as Textiles, Textile Design, Fashion History, Ethnic Costume, Computer Fashion Design (Illustrator, Photoshop, etc.), Patternmaking, Draping, and so on.
As owner of Cochenille Design Studio, I involve myself in developing software for the textile arts. (see our blog at http://cochenilledesignstudio.blogspot.com). See also our website and blogs (Cochenille Design Studio and Susan's Favorite reads) at our website at www.cochenille.com.